 Go
where the jobs are
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Twenty percent of the developed world's employment
could be affected by global outsourcing, according to a new study
by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, as
reported in the New York Times. These are not just the sorts of
jobs we've already heard about -- customer service, radiologists,
accountants and programmers -- but also librarians, statisticians,
chemical engineers and even air traffic controllers.
Heretofore, large corporations have been the major
outsourcers. For example, the Times reported that IBM is laying
off 13,000 U.S. and European employees and hiring 14,000 in India.
But it's not just the large corporations anymore. The Times reports
that a growing number of mom-and-pop operations are turning to places
such as Sri Lanka, China, Mexico and Eastern Europe to make clothes,
jewelry and software.
But all is not lost for Americans.
According to Joel Kotkin, author of Inc. magazine's "Best Places
for Doing Business in America," more companies are also "homeshoring,""seeking
workers and suppliers in smaller U.S. cities that aren't burdened
by the exorbitant taxes, housing prices, labor costs and regulatory
hurdles seen in many larger cities."
Inc.'s top-10 best places to do business in the United
States: Reno, Nev.; Boise, Idaho; Casper, Wyo.; Green Bay, Wis.;
Medford, Ore.; Riverside/San Bernardino, Calif.; Melbourne-Titusville-Palm
Bay, Fla.; Missoula, Mont.; Fort Myers-Cape Coral, Fla.; and Jacksonville,
Fla.
Florida, the state with the most cities on the Inc.
list has created 250,000 new jobs in the last year. Warren May,
spokesman for the state-run Agency for Workforce Innovation, says,
"Professional and business services such as banking and insurance
have been leading the jobs growth. And health-care services are
right up there because of Florida's large senior population, and
there has been a remarkable turnaround in manufacturing."
Florida's unemployment rate: 4.4 percent.
And Florida doesn't even have the nation's lowest
rate. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, these states
do: Wyoming (2.9 percent), Hawaii (3 percent), Virginia (3 percent),
North Dakota (3.3 percent) and South Dakota (3.7 percent).
The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides support for
the assertion that jobs are moving from the major cities. The cities
reporting the highest percentage of job growth in the past 12 months:
Yuma, Ariz. (+10.8 percent); St. George, Utah (+9.6 percent); Las
Vegas/Paradise, Nev. (+7.4 percent); Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (+6.9
percent); Blacksburg-Christiansberg-Radford, Va. (+6.4 percent);
and Mount Vernon-Anacortes, Wash. (+5.8 percent). Among large cities,
the worst performer was Detroit (-1.1 percent).
Of course, even if you move to a hot spot, the job
market will be stronger in certain fields. Here are the nationwide
biggies:
My favorite: government jobs. Increasingly, private
sector firms downsize "permanent" employees and hire temps,
contract workers or off-shore employees. Today, government is among
the last bastions of job security and full benefits. Despite government's
perennial cry of budget woes, government continues to be the nation's
largest employer and continues to hire in great quantities. As of
this writing, 18,804 federal openings are listed on www.usajobs.opm.gov.
An additional 10,000 federal openings are posted on individual agency
Web sites, and state and local government Web sites post thousands
of additional jobs.
According to the Office of Personnel Management, professional
federal openings are likely to be particularly plentiful in:
- Security.
(37,505 new hires expected in 2005-2006): This category includes
such positions as fraud investigators, disaster recovery specialists
and food-supply inspectors.
- Medical and public health.
(25,756 new hires): This group includes physicians, physician's
assistants, nurses, pharmacists, medical technologists and respiratory
therapists.
- Science.
(23,806 new hires): This category includes engineers, microbiologists,
botanists, physicists, astronomers and veterinary specialists.
- Program Management and Administration.
(17,373 new hires)
- Accounting, Budget, and Business.
(12,959 new hires): The Internal
Revenue Service is driving growth in this category as it steps
up enforcement.
Don't think you need to move to D.C. for a federal
job. Most are scattered around the country and a surprising number
are overseas.
In the private sector, hiring is especially strong
in:
Computer programming: especially
in computer security, mobile (cell phones and PDAs), component engineering
and in specialized analysis and programming, for example, in SAP
or Oracle.
Accounting: especially if you have Sarbanes-Oxley
experience. That anti-fraud law has become a full-employment act
for accountants. Experienced cost accountants, junior-level financial
and business analysts and senior accountants with degrees are all
in demand.
Health care: especially registered
nurses, pathologists and other allied health careers such as diagnostic
imaging and cardiac testing.
Blue-collar jobs: The decades-long
push to encourage more students to attend college has made many
people feel that blue-collar work is to be shunned. That has created
shortages in high-paying, nonoffshoreable careers such electricians,
auto or truck mechanics and even manufacturing. A study by the National
Association of Manufacturers showed that even during the recent
recession, 80 percent of manufacturers had a moderate-to-serious
shortage of workers. The group predicts that manufacturers will
need up to 10 million new skilled workers by 2020.
According to the Department of Labor, salaries for
medical equipment technicians have risen 36 percent between 2003
and 2004.
Sales: Sales and administrative
positions in financial service firms such as banks and mutual fund
companies.
Any job serving Latinos.
Rampant immigration and a birthrate double that of whites and Asians
is creating many opportunities for people who speak Spanish. Jobs
are especially plentiful in the fields of education, health care
and criminal justice.
Advice I'd give my child
Unless you're desperate, hold out for a job you want in a locale
you want, even if not in hot areas. Only after a year of serious
job searching should you consider compromising.
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